Cape Town - The results of the weekend’s frantic negotiations over the provision of more funding for the legal team representing suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane at Parliament’s inquiry into her fitness for office are expected today.
The behind-the-scenes negotiations were alluded to by committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi on Friday evening when at the end of the day’s hearing, Mkhwebane’s senior counsel Dali Mpofu announced the PPSA’s funding for Mkhwebane’s legal costs had dried up.
Speaking to the committee, Mkwhebane said she did not have the resources to pay for the legal team after having been “clobbered” with personal costs orders made against her by the courts.
Mkhwebane said: “As the public protector of South Africa, I did not bring myself to this committee.”
Dyantyi said funds would have to be found in order to conclude the inquiry and that the money did not have to be from the PPSA.
He said: “There is a lot of homework that needs to be done. We leave here with a huge task but we will be back on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.”
Just over a week ago the PPSA told the committee that it only had enough money to fund Mkhwebane’s legal fees until the end of March. They said they had run out of funds as further legal fees had not been budgeted for.
At the time, members said that this would pose a risk and the work of the committee could come to a standstill.
On Friday, Mpofu, who disclosed that he had already taken on a new assignment – which he hinted was related to the Thomas Bester case – said they had hoped for some miracle to end the impasse but this had not happened.
Dyantyi said in his ruling that it would be unfair to Mkhwebane and everyone involved to stop the process at this stage.
The PPSA said that R14.9 million was originally budgeted for the 2022/ 23 financial year for the procurement of all legal and related services, but by the end of February 2023 the expenditure had already exceeded the allocated budget by R12 million.
Earlier in the day, Mkhwebane said she was grateful to DA MP Natasha Mazzone for having lodged the motion for her impeachment leading to the setting up of Parliament’s inquiry into her fitness for office.
Mkhwebane was in agreement with Mpofu, who had said: “Not everyone has a chance to have a process like this where they can ventilate the issues, thanks to Ms Mazzone.”
Mkhwebane: “You can say that again. Thanks to her. Everything happens for a reason. God allowed me to go through this humiliation of the past eight months of vilification.”
Mkhwebane said people she trusted had come before the committee and spoken, spreading very painful and derogatory information about her, and perpetuated the media narrative of her being ignorant of the law.
She said she had been eager for the process so as to have a platform to correct the wrong narrative spread about her in the courts and the media.